


Time in  a bottle

by FeatherQuill



Category: The Hobbit RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst and Humor, Explicit Sexual Content, Fluff and Smut, M/M, Top Richard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-18
Updated: 2015-11-18
Packaged: 2018-05-02 06:20:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5237672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeatherQuill/pseuds/FeatherQuill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Lee is a nurse, Richard the Prime Minister and a lot of things happen. Will they end up together , won´t they? God only knows but there is hope.  Come in and find out for yourself</p>
            </blockquote>





	Time in  a bottle

**Author's Note:**

> On a completely different note it was brought to my attention that some readers prefer Lee or Richard topping, so from now on I will tag that so everyone can enjoy what they like. It was a rather nice comment and the reader was very polite and I really don´t understand the drama the issue itself caused on tumblr :( (not for me mind you, I just read that) . So much to that and I hope you all are save and sound, concerning much different and gruesome matters. I am not going to talk about that more because it is painful enough for everyone and so I really hope that love will conquer all in the end because in a world where you let hate rule nothing can grow.

As far as Mondays went, Lee couldn´t complain. Certainly there was this and that at a hospital that One could always complain about but all in all he was used to it. Sitting in the canteen he tried sipping his coffee until Heather, lovely and calm Heather stormed past him with a face as red as a firetruck, cursing so loudly in such a manner that he blushed. And there wasn´t really much that could make him blush anymore. He simply raised One eyebrow when she grabbed a doughnut, stuffed it into her mouth and plopped down opposite him. 

“The devil. I tell you, he´s the devil. He might not look like it, but he is!”

She all but screamed at him and he simply raised his other eyebrow, going through the lists of patients she could be referring to. There were some he could imagine quite fitting but he did have a guess. 

“You know what he did this morning? That arrogant bastard? He asked me to fluff his pillow or he would see to that I got fired!”

 _Ah_ Lee thought with a sigh, wincing as he remembered the patient in question quite well. Now, the thing was, you had to be careful with people that came in , you couldn´t go by appearance and by god, it was a shame that he guy was such a dick when he opened his mouth. He was English, he should be ..well – behave like that or something -at least that was what she told him and he sighed yet again. He didn´t like the smile Heather threw him. 

“Oh by the way, you won´t believe this. He asked for, and I quote here. _The fellow with the bushy eyebrows and the nice bum_ ”

Lee all but choked on his coffee, slammed it down on the table and coughed some more. Heather looked at him with something close to glee and he paled a little. Mondays, he hated Mondays. 

 

“Ah finally, her Majesty sees it in her grace to show!”

A voice bellowed from somewhere in the room and Lee was glad that he carried the breakfast tray in his hands or he would have leaped towards the bed and strangled the infuriating man with his bare hands. For a moment there he felt the childish need to drop the tray and stomp his feet. Naturally he didn´t give into that need for numerous reasons. First of all – he would have to clean up the mess himself and second, in the end he would have to pay for any damages. He narrowed his eyes, kicked the door close with his heel and sat the tray down more forcefully than strictly necessary on the table next to the mans bed. His eyes quickly scanned the cast stretched up over the bed, holding Richards leg, took in the one around his arm and sighed dramatically.

“We talked about this Richard. _Please_ don´t just order me in here like a servant. Worse than that, this is my actual work and I have so much more to do today.”

Richard narrowed his eyes. 

“You really think I did dowse that silly cow in tea and threw pillows after the other tosser so you would be the only one left to tend to me?”

Lee raised both eyebrows, expression a cross between amusement and anger before he closed his eyes. There was something pulling deep in his chest and his mouth was an unhappy line. 

“You would do that, wouldn´t you?” 

And suddenly, the childish need to throw something at the man despite his injuries from a car accident came back with a vengeance. Instead he just stood and slammed the door behind him as he left. God, he wished for it to be last summer again. That summer had been glorious. In many more ways than one and no, he _wouldn´t_ tear up like a crushing schoolgirl. No, he wouldn´t. 

One hour later Heather nearly suffered an heart attack when she found him slumped in a rather large utility closet, crying into a towel and wishing for a bottle of something stronger than water. She wanted to make jokes about the absurd situation at first, with him being out of the closet and no need to hide in it anymore but even in her head it sounded so stupid she threw the mere thought about that particular joke out the window and knelt beside him. 

 

“Okay, that´s it. Even if he is the fucking Prime Minister, he hasn´t got the right to thread people like _shit_.” 

Lee gave a wet sob at that which she misinterpreted wholly but he didn´t care to correct her. No, instead of telling the truth he stood on wobbly legs, wiped his nose with a disgusted gesture and shook his head. 

“That´s not it. I ..it´s private. I am sorry.”

She gave a sigh but nodded. At least she didn´t ask anything else and he was grateful for that. With a groan he remembered that he had a double shift. God, how he wished for it to be last summer again. Closing his eyes against the headache he felt coming on, he allowed his mind to drift.

_** London 1 year prior. ** _

Richard Armitage was seldom amused, but today, he really was. For one thing the campaign that would land him the job as Prime Minister of Great Britain was running smoothly. The weather was absolutely lovely and – to make his day perfect, some pitiful tourist was trying to fish something out of a fountain. He couldn´t very well see the man from his seat on the park bench he was perched on but from what he could see the poor sod failed at whatever he was doing with great effort. When the man, tall as he was finally fell into the fountain with a muffled curse, he decided that maybe it would be the polite thing to help the poor sod. 

Stretching and walking over to the man with a few snickers escaping him. So far he had only seen the man from behind – which had been pleasant enough – but once a pair of stormy hazel eyes glared up at him, he found his words stuck in his windpipe. The weather wasn´t the only thing that was absolutely gorgeous. A moment later he found his equilibrium back and smiled at the glaring man. 

“You alright there, mate?”

The glare that was thrown his way only deepened, thick eyebrows knitting together. Richard bit his lip to keep from laughing. He had the feeling that it wouldn´t go over well. The man was soaked, his shirt clung tightly to his body and it looked rather snug – a fact Richard also kept to himself. It was his free day after all. No phone calls, no press – nothing but bliss and lovely weather. The booming voice from somewhere beneath him made him blink and focus at the matter at hand. Which seemed to be a rather wet and scorned American tourist. 

“Do I look alright to you? I am sitting in a fucking fountain, my camera is ruined because some idiot knocked into me - and here I thought all of you here were so polite! Polite, my ass. And I come from _Texas_.”

Richard couldn´t help it, the laugh that he so desperate had held in, bubbled forth and out into the world. The man in front of him looked up, chuckled and shook his head before he rose. He was slightly taller than himself, he noticed but other than that. His heart fluttered a bit and he let for once run his mouth run the course of what he was feeling at the moment. 

“Tell you what. You get cleaned up and I will offer you tea and cake. Even wear a bowler hat if you want the full tourist description. How does that sound?”

The man still looking like a very tall drowned rat snorted and tried to get his hair back in order without much success. 

“Sounds nice. My name´s Lee, by the way.”

Richard gave him a blinding smile and scribbled the address of a restaurant on the back of one of his business cards. 

“Excellent. Meet you there in two hours. I am Richard, by the way.”

 

_** New York City, present day ** _

Lee shook his head, berating himself for being a sentimental idiot before continuing on making his rounds, greeting a doctor here and there on his way. So far he had managed to avoid seeing Richard again. His shock at seeing the other man in the States at all had been rather great. Not to mention that the state he had been in had been rather critical. Now, a few weeks after the accident he was in, he was back on the road to recovery and apparently also on the way of making Lees life hell. Lee doubted that Richard did it on purpose. It was rather late at night when his beeper got off, noticing him of an emergency. With a glance he could easily see that it came from Richards room. No, he corrected himself. Richards _floor_ , because him being a very important man that had enemies. There was Security there, but alas - they weren´t really on the bright side of things. Lee dimly wondered if any of them could even read, the thought making him chuckle. His face paled a little as One of them came running in his direction.

“What took you so long!”

Someone rather burly said to him and Lee let out a huffing breath, or he would have done so if he wouldn´t have been dragged along by his arm. Now, he wasn´t a small or fragile man but those guys, well – they certainly had chosen the right job. What took him so long? Nothing, really, just a job he had to do, that they were only four people currently on the entire fucking floor and three of them weren´t very keen on meeting Richard again because of previous occurrences with him. Lee would have snapped at big and brawny but the sight that greeted him shut him up very quickly. Apparently Richard had tried to move to the wheelchair next to his bed on his own and managed to fall. 

“Why didn´t you help him?”

He all but screamed at the guy blinking at him stupidly but before something could leave the mans mouth Richard spoke up. 

“I didn´t want them to touch me. My bones are already broken more than I would like!”

He hissed and Lee desperately tried not to roll his eyes before hefting Richard into the wheelchair and quickly checking him over. There was a slight scratch on his cheek and he disinfected it before placing a bandaid on it and turned to go. 

“Wait. I want to take a walk. Walk me.”

Lee raised both eyebrows, biting the inside of his cheek. 

“This is a hospital, sir. I do apologize if you mistake if for a Spa. It really isn´t , I can tell you from the amount of money I get paid.”

He gritted out making big and brawny behind him snort before Richard threw him a look that shut him up and placed a hand on Lees arm. 

“My apologies. I just need a bit fresh air and you know your way around. It is hardly possible for me during the daytime. You know, all the bloody tests, physio therapy – and the press. Let´s not forget that.”

Lee sighed again. He couldn´t refuse the man and he hated himself a little bit for it every time. The elevator ride was tense and silent until Lee snapped by the sixth time he heard Richard clear his throat. 

“What? What do you want? What is it that I have done now? Or should I still call you sir, because that would be very rich, given the circumstance that is well past midnight and nobody can see us.”

Richard swallowed, closed his eyes and then looked out into the entrance hall which was blissfully empty. Yet again Lee fought the urge to roll his eyes. 

“I wanted to apologize for this morning. And..I wanted to talk to you. About everything.”

Lee froze, his eyes automatically wanting to well up with tears of anger and despair. _Everything_. He gave a snort. _Everything_ , had been a note. A fucking Post-it. He was tired, he had worked his ass off and he was fed up with all the crap he was dealt and yet he listened because his mother had raised him that way. Grabbing a blanket from an utility closet he draped it over Richards lower half, wheeling him out into the Hospitals Garden. 

“So? How come?”

God, he shouldn´t do that. He should just leave and do whatever there was to do but he just wasn´t like that. 

“Does it matter? I -I just had a lot of time to think. You know, nearly dying does that to you, I suppose. And scary nurses threatening to beat One to death with a Spatula.”

The Brit gave a shudder and Lee groaned inwardly. He was going to murder Heather. Nobody else would have the gall to say something like that to a man like Richard and she had been the One to find him when he had his breakdown. 

“You don´t need to apologize because you think I deserve your pity, Richard. “

He turned his face away, looking at everything but the man himself until he was hauled in by a surprisingly strong arm. But then again, Richard had started out as a bricklayer and gotten into politics much later. The irony wasn´t lost on on Lee. With a surprised shout that alarmed nobody but a few squirrels he found himself nose to nose with the man, heart in his throat.

“It´s not pity.”

 

And suddenly he finds himself miles and oceans away again without meaning to in the slightest. 

_** London 1 year prior. ** _

 

To be honest, Richard doesn´t even expect the man to show, but the broad smile that is thrown his way when the man enters the place he had suggested is more than enough to convince him that he did the right thing. Sure, some of his campaign advisers would suffer a stroke if they were to see him but the thing was, they weren´t. He was a free man right now and the people around him simply didn´t care too much to really look at him. Maybe that would change but right now, he had other things to focus his attention on. Mainly the man with a pair of sunglasses stuck into his unruly hair and – thank god, a fresh shirt and trousers. Not that he had minded the wet look, no, not at all. To his annoyance he felt his face flush a bit at the other thoughts that crossed his mind at that.

“Well now, I must say I miss the bowler hat, but other than that, you look like promised.”

Richard all but chortled, instead he offered Lee a seat in the little restaurant they were in. It wasn´t something fancy, which also meant – no press, and no more advisers. He felt a little thrill at that and the fact that he had shut off his phone made him think for one ridiculous moment that he was something close to James Bond. A chuckle rose in his throat before he blinked and looked at his guest again.

“What did I promise then, mate.”

Lee grinned, eyes sparkling. So far, this was the best part of his day and the man in front of him, well – he could work with that, even if he had promised himself that he wouldn´t start something while on holiday. With a sigh he nudged his good intentions over the cliff and into the abyss. 

“You promised to take pity on me after you fished me out of the fountain, or something like that.”

Richards eyes blazed and he leaned closer over the table they were sitting at. 

“It´s not pity.”

Lee in turn raised his eyebrows and gave a blinding smile. 

“Well, I am glad then.”

_** New York City, present day ** _

The night was getting colder which Lee only noticed because there was gooseflesh rising on his arms and he fought back a sneeze. Richard of course, noticed. 

“Do you want to have that blanket?”  
Lee gave him a glare from the position he still was in, kneeling on the dirty floor and nose to nose with the other man. It was hard to make out Richards features in the darkness but he was sure that he was looking at him, observing him with keen eyes. He was good at that. 

“Nah, I am fine. So, you wanted to talk to me.”

He reminded gently albeit a tad bitter. More than he had wanted to if he would have been honest with himself. Richard cleared his throat again. 

“Yes. I know that things between us -the things that were..well, haven´t turned out the way either of us wanted to. That maybe...there was an misunderstanding.”

Lee rose to his feet, raked a hand through his hair, eyes utterly bright in the dim moonlight that shone through the darkness which surrounded them.

“Cut the crap, will you. Tell me what you want and we might be lucky enough not to catch a cold before going back inside.”

Besides all the tension between them Richard has to fight back a smile. The first real one since the accident. A tentative hand on his own belies Lees harsh words and makes him feel a lot crappier than he already does due to the circumstances.

“I meant to come but by the time I reached the airport you were gone and..to be frank, I had the hope to see you again once I was over the pond, wanted to look for you, even if I hadn´t much to go on and then this happened.”

He groused, eyes focused intently on Lees fingers ghosting over his skin, drawing patterns only visible to the younger man who simply swallowed. 

“I have to say, that is not what I expected. Really.”

With his good hand he tried to pull Lee closer and Lee went willingly, chuckling all of sudden, making Richard frown. That most certainly wasn´t the reaction he had expected or hoped for. 

“What?”

Lee shook his head. 

“I was just thinking of wine in plastic cups and how much easier all of that was.”

Richard gave a sigh, not letting go of the hand he had grabbed once Lee had stopped his caresses.

“Yeah.”

_** London 1 year prior. ** _

Richard rolled around, undignified guffaws leaving his mouth hand clutching his sides on the floor of Lees Motel Room.  
“You can´t be serious. This is _not_ what you think of romantic dinner, is it?”  
He couldn´t stop the giggles still escaping him. The man was crazy and it didn´t help him at least that they only had met a week ago and all they had done so far was talking. Not that he was strictly against that but still, there was a certain hunger rising inside of him and other things he didn´t want to dwell on further for now. Lee gave a pout, raising his plastic cup of wine, toeing of his shoes and wriggling his toes before flopping down next to the man currently rolling around the carpet like a overly giddy five year old. He cracked a smile and handed him a second cup with a slice of Pizza. 

“Well, this is all you get. I am a poor tourist, remember?”

He grinned toothily and Richard couldn´t help it, he dropped the cup of most certainly crappy wine onto the carpet without a second thought and closed the distance between them for a kiss that left them both breathless. 

“I´ll try to keep that in mind.”

He rasped after a while and sat back on his haunches.

_** New York City, present day ** _

Lee felt something inside him flare up and tried to squish it down again before he allowed his heart to rule over his mind - _again_.

“So..”

He tried to keep the conversation flowing, light. Even if that was hard. Richard meanwhile looked at the ground, wishing he could already walk again but gave a sigh instead. 

“All I am saying is that I meant everything I said back then and that I came here with plans.”

Lee whirled on his heel, eyes widening a fraction. 

“Plans? All of a sudden there are plans?”

Then and there Lee decided that he was still dreaming but the arm tugging on his sleeve was very real and warm, as were the words leaving the mouth pressed to his cheek.

“Yes. Always. I am just a bit slow sometimes in realizing things.”

And all of a sudden they both laughed.

_** London 1 year prior. ** _

“Beg your pardon?”

Richard said between pants, hands gripping onto Lees hips, his own thrusting shallowly upwards into the other man. Lee gave a moan, throwing his head back and trying to focus on what was going besides the obvious. 

“I _-ah-_ said , that you´re slow sometimes.”

He pressed forward between gritted teeth. They made quite the sight, all flushed skin and breathy moans. Richard muttered something about Lees hair needing to be cut because it fell into his face, the way Lee was perched above him while riding him. Being a man of not much patience Richard flipped them, giving Lee a long look and finally crawling between his legs again, licking a path from his throbbing cock to his entrance, nudging inside and relishing in the sounds from above, only stopping when the hand grabbing his hair almost became painful in warning.

“Whatever do you mean by that?”

Richard tried playfully before entering the pliant body beneath his own again but Lee said nothing and just crossed his ankles behind Richards back, hands finding purchase on his shoulders while Richard couldn´t resist and licked a path from the tempting freckles on the mans shoulders to a peaked nipple making him cry out. 

“Not talking about that.”

Lee pressed out, eyes fluttering shut in the throws of passion. Oh they both knew what he had meant and what they both started to feel despite not planning to and being only an item, so to speak for less than a month. Still, it felt real. Real, like the hands that pressed bruises into the skin on his shoulders and the hips that angled perfectly with his own, making Lee gasp out a random string of curses and shaking apart underneath Richard who wasn´t really that far behind, given the way he panted into his neck and the irregular pattern of his movement. 

After what seemed like an eternity they caught their breaths and Richard had a twinkle in his eyes, fingers curling in Lees hair. 

“So,love, want to talk about the weather then?”

Lee looked for a moment like a deer in headlights before he started to snicker, smacking Richard on his lovely behind, making him yelp in the process. 

_** New York City, present day ** _

The laughter had subsided and they both were left a bit speechless. Lee didn´t want to get his hopes high only to have them crushed again. He was a man that unluckily for his well being tended to follow his heart and in turn got it broken on a regular basis. Richards voice cut into his thoughts like a sharp object, efficiently shattering the little self control he had on the matter. 

“Point is, I was a coward that made piss pour choices and listened to the wrong people because of a career in the making. A right asshole – feel free to interrupt me anytime soon.”

Lee just made a face, shaking his head.

“Oh no, do go on, I like this so far. No need to stop.”

Richard bit his tongue to stop from screaming. Okay, the way he had ended things back in London hadn´t been nice. They had been found out and he had gotten the polite but good advice to make a choice. It had pained him but at the time he had thought it had been right. They hadn´t even said something to one another, never, albeit it had been clear as day in every word and every touch they shared. He had almost forgotten about Lee, even if behind everyone’s back he had tried to find out where the man lived. And then he had started to think of the things that could possibly happen if they would find each other again, cast everything aside and focusing on his work. That was until after the accident he had been in. First he had thought he had been dreaming, his imagination playing a cruel trick on him, but it had in fact been Lee. 

Lee who had been avoiding him ever since and now, here they were.

“You still with me?”

Lee asked gently, fastening the blanket around him a bit tighter. Richard blinked against the wave of emotions that threatened to overwhelm him, nodding, beckoning Lee closer with his finger.

“Yeah. I am a bit cold you know. Not around the legs, mind you.”

With a sigh Lee started to wheel him back into the hospital,only to be stopped by Richards voice again. 

“And you say I am the slow one , love. Tragic, really tragic.”

He said before trying to rise out of the chair, only to be stopped by Lees hands again. That was all the opening Richard needed to sling his good arm around Lees shoulders and drag him into a kiss. It would have gone on a little longer if it wouldn´t have been for Richard needing to sit down and someone clearing his throat. It was only Heather, thank god. No, Lee corrected himself, it was Heather with a spring in her step, cuffing him in the side once he had manged to distangle himself from Richard who to his credit wore a rather blank expression, but had the fingers of his unaffected hand laced with Lees. 

“Yeah I got it. Men are tragic. Anyways, if there is a wedding I´ll be invited, maybe gift you a cactus.”

She gave Richard a stare and Lee turned a rather lovely shade of red that bordered on purple by the time Richard bit his lips to keep from laughing at her rambling. 

“Come on, lets get you to bed.”

They would have time to discuss everything later because there were still some things that needed to be settled. 

_ **Los Angeles 1 year later** _

Lee groaned, flopping onto his back, trying to wake but finding it very hard. He was on holiday and he wanted to sleep in. The man beside him however had other ideas, judging from the fingers ghosting over his spine, dipping below the sheet that was covering his body. 

“Richard..”

He muttered, eyes still closed, but he could feel the man shift and straddle him, placing kisses on his neck. He gave a little shiver, goosebumps rising. The last year hadn´t been easy for both of them, really it hadn´t. There had been a lot of support but also a lot of not so nice words – to put it mildly. Not that it mattered now, because in they end they had come through and because Richard knew what he did in politics the voices grew quiet after a while. It had been a bit easier for Lee, even if the odd article in some glossy magazine still popped up but they ignored it, especially now they had a few days to themselves. 

“Yes?”

Richard sounded way too smug and Lees eyes snapped open once he felt a pair of slick fingers probing, easily gliding in. A flush settled high on his cheeks when Richards voice rumbled in his ear.  
“Would you mind turning around, love?”

He asked, fingers sliding out again and Lee complied easily, sliding up the bed of the lovely little beach house they had rented for three weeks, a breeze coming in and ruffling Richards slightly unkempt hair. Lee forced back the smile blooming on his face.

“Better?”

His voice still sounded a bit hesitant sometimes but he just couldn´t help it, because the last months, they had taken their toll on them both and thus they had decided to take a break from it all. Richard didn´t answer but instead moved up and over him, sliding their cocks together, causing them both to moan into each others mouths before lifting Lees legs up until they rested over his shoulders, gazing at him with everything he seldom said but felt none the less. Lee reached up and cupped his cheek, nodding and drawing him into another kiss that soon turned into a rather sloppy thing and Richard pulled back, reaching for the condoms that where still on the nightstand but Lee stopped him with a gentle hand. Nothing Lee ever did was rough, Richard nodded once again but none the less he asked. 

“You sure?”

It sounded uncertain and was a bit stupid, considering they hadn´t spend a day apart in the last weeks and months if it could be avoided but still. Lee swallowed, lips dry, eyes wet.

“I love you.”

He said and Richard took a long breath, trying to calm his nerves and rested his head on Lees shoulder, kissing the skin within reach before looking up, hips moving forward, joining them. 

“I love you, too.”

It´s not the first time Richard says that but it means the world to him, so much that he is beyond words, hands grabbing onto every part of the older man that he can, legs firmly over his shoulders. They move in a gentle rhythm at first that grows slowly more urgent, borders on frantic and when Richard slams into his prostate with the last thrusts Lee doesn´t give a rats ass of disturbing anyone with his hoarse screams. Richard isn´t quiet either, whispering filthy words into his ear, telling him what it does to him when he sees the other man like that and he holds onto him when he finally falls apart, spilling into him with his normally pale skin rosy and blushing. They will need to shower after this but Lee feels boneless, only wincing slightly after Richard finally pulls out and rolls off of him to lie gracelessly beside him with a stupid grin plastered on his face. 

“My, you are up early today.”

Lee grins, the silver chain around his neck dangling enticingly making Richards chest swell with pride, knowing that the ring, now placed on Lees finger and matching his own, dangles there only when Lee works and marks him as his. 

“I am willing to forgive you for that horrible pun, if you make me breakfast, love.”

Lees grin got a lot more cheeky.

“With eggs?”

The pillow hitting him in the face was answer enough and he rose with a laugh. 

 

END


End file.
